Breakfast at IHOP
Marc: Grade: B. Comments: The food was pretty good (though that might be because I ordered well for myself), but I have to agree with David that the booth was in no way conducive to conversation. Often, things would be said at the other side of the table that I just wouldn't hear and I found that both annoying and distracting.
David: Grade: B-. Comments: I enjoyed my food enough (nothing special). The booth is a real hindrance to conversation.
Mehr: Comments: As for the food part of the day, I don't really think it matters where we eat, because not all of us will ever really agree on the perfect place to eat.
Bowling at Wantagh Lanes
Marc: Grade: A-. MBBB Future Event: 8. Comments: The only real problem I had with this event was that it was very difficult to come up with a competitive situation. Having to break up into teams of 4 and 3 made the competition much less apparent. For example, there were a great many times when members of the same team were bowling at the same time. But, other than that, I really enjoyed myself, and was happy to see that the price wasn't too terrible.
David: Grade: B+. MBBB Future Event: 8. Comments: The team set-up didn't work as well as it could have - I guess this can be fixed in the future. The ability to print out our scoresheets was very nice.
Mehr: Grade: B. MBBB Future Event: 5.5. I'd rather go outside and have fun in the fresh air, but if it does rain this is a good back up event.
Handball at Town Park
Marc: Grade: A. MBBB Future Event: 10. Comments: This event worked perfectly in my estimation. The tournament format went very smoothly, and was also very fair and competitive. Another bonus of the format was its four player per game rule, which allowed all players to have enough rest during the competition.
David: Grade: A. MBBB Future Event: 10. Comments: Great proposal, well executed. The location worked perfectly for the game and everything seemed very fair. The only addition to the rules I would like is to spell out what's out on a serve and during play. Only caveat is that we might not be able to get a spot at Town Park as easily as we did this year (especially on a weekend).
Mehr: Grade: A. MBBB Future Event: 9. This event went very well: everyone seemed to have a good time and mostly everyone had a chance to make the playoffs.
Lunch at Boston Market
Marc: Grade: A-. Comments: I agree with David here again. I really enjoyed the food but not having one table was a bit annoying. Also, the food was a bit on the expensive side, for a 30 minute lunch that is.
David: Grade: A-. Comments: The food was awesome and we got to use coupons. Having to divide the group into 2 tables was the only downside.
Mehr: See above comments for breakfast.
Capture the Flag at Birch Elementary School
Marc: Grade: A-. MBBB Future Event: 1. Comments: This game worked out much better than I could have imagined. It was tremendously competitive, plus every single person playing was totally involved. Reffing plus the honor code idea worked almost flawlessly. However, the game is just too exhausting to include as an MBBB event in the future (unless we bump up to 10 people at some point).
David: Grade: A-. MBBB Future Event: 2. Comments: Good proposal, fun game with lots of strategy. Hiding and finding flags was great fun. Judging went well with very little arguments. Location worked out very well as did all the boundaries. And the more I think about it, the less flag-sitting bothers me. Yeah, it essentially takes that flag out of play but it also takes a player out of play - nothing wrong with that. The biggest downside to this event is that it was very tiring. It was a fun game but I don't think we could include it again as an MBBB event.
Mehr: Grade: B-. MBBB Future Event: 3. I liked the event and had fun, but it was just too tiring. Although more people could help the endurance factor, I would rather not do this in another MBBB.
Pictionary at Matt's house
Marc: Grade: A-. MBBB Future Event: 7. Comments: I really, thoroughly enjoyed this event. It was frantic, fun, competitive, and required a heck of a lot of teamwork. The only downside I could find was that teams take turns when playing this game and thus can get bored when they're not playing. And, as David said, another reason that we might not play this game again is because there are so many good board games worth playing.
David: Grade: A-. MBBB Future Event: 7. Comments: I really, thoroughly enjoyed this event. It was frantic, fun, competitive, and required a heck of a lot of teamwork. The only downside I could find was that teams take turns when playing this game and thus can get bored when they're not playing. And, as David said, another reason that we might not play this game again is because there are so many good board games worth playing.
Mehr: Grade: B. MBBB Future Event: 6. Comments: This event was great. I thought everyone had a good time in doing this once the teams were fair. But, as you said, this event is just one of many board games.
Dinner at Outback Steakhouse
Marc: Grade: C. Comments: I have to say, the food selection is pretty weak at that place. The free bread was nice, but the rest of the stuff was just expensive for what it was (at least for me).
David: Grade: C+. Comments: A little too pricey for me. The booth again was a hindrance to conversation.
Mehr: See above comments for breakfast.